Puppies abandoned in bucket in freezing cold recovering in leaps and bounds

Colin Ainscough

A litter of sick puppies dumped in a bucket and left on a cottage doorstep in freezing cold temperatures days before Christmas have started to make a recovery.

A homeowner answered a knock on the door to find the pups abandoned in an orange bucket in Halebourne Lane, Chobham, Surrey, on December 14.

Leaps and bounds

RSPCA officials believe the dogs, lurchers aged around five weeks old, may have been bred to be sold as Christmas presents but dumped when they became ill.

The animals had parvovirus, a potentially deadly virus common among puppy-farmed dogs. They were named after some of Santa's reindeers - Cupid, Dasher, Blitzen, Rudolf, Prancer and Dancer.

One pup - Dasher - died of the virus a few days after being found, but the rest of the litter are said to have come along in "leaps and bounds" at RSPCA Millbrook.

Deputy manager Liz Wood said the puppies now appeared to be out of the "danger zone". She said: "They were so lucky they were found, as if they had been there too much longer, they would have all died.

Hoping to make a full recovery

"They have some skin and eye infections, but are responding well to treatment so we are hoping they will go on to make a full recovery."